SERVICE IN LIBYA

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20492, 28 February 1941, Page 9

SERVICE IN LIBYA

N.Z. ENGINEERS. CORPS EFFICIENCY AND SKILL WIDE RANGE OF DUTIES (From the Official War Correspondent with the N.Z.E.F. in tho Middle East.) (Reed. Feb. 27, 2.30 p.m.) CAIRO. Feb. 26. Another illustration of the fact that although the parts played by the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in the Libyan campaign were comparatively unspectacular, they were carried out with outstanding efficiency and thoroughness, is given in the record of the field park engineers who have rejoined the force after serving until the fall of Benghazi. The New Zealanders were entrusted with a wide range of responsibilities whose fulfilment demanded the highest degree of initiative and skill. Not far behind the fighting troops, they took Bardia, Tobruk and Derna in their stride as they helped to tackle the immense job of setting the wheels in motion again on a vast battlefield. Their tasks included the handling and investigation of engineering stores, salvaging enemy vehicles, the operation of water points, power-houses, the running of .a special supply columnand the removal or destruction of enemy mines, booby-traps and bombs, plus general workshop activities. At times the company was spread over as many as 100 miles, split into parties doing different work at different points. Headquarters varied from a bivouac in the desert to a mansion at Derna and a basement of an Italian monument at Barce. At the latter place the New Zealanders left a remarkable monument to their own ingenuity. To replace a bridge which crossed a deep gully on the main j-oad and which had been demolished by the Italians, they built another with steel scaffolding salvaged from an enemy hangar.